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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Jeremy Corbyn and DD

282 replies

Dressingdown1 · 28/09/2019 10:15

I am so worried about what will happen if Labour get in and implement their stated policy on closing down independent schools. It is literally keeping me awake at night worrying about what might happen to DD.

DD is in her 30s, just split from her OH and works as a teacher and housemistress at an independent school. If it is taken over by the state, she stands to lose her home (she lives in the boarding house) and possibly her job. Her school has tiny classes and a state school would need far fewer teachers for the bigger class sizes.

Of course she could come and live in our spare room if necessary, but hardly desirable for someone who has lived away from home for years.

Please tell me I am silly to be so worried!

OP posts:
mygrandchildrenrock · 28/09/2019 10:17

It just won’t happen. Some schools might lose their charitable status, but that’s about it. Try to stop worrying about something so unlikely to happen.

ChilledBee · 28/09/2019 10:18

I'd be more interested in how it might improve education and equality for the masses rather than the fact one person might have to change their lifestyle. But I'm JC all the way. Even if a few of the things he proposes comes into play, it will improve life for millions of impoverished people. Won't that be fantastic if everyone had the opportunity to access gold star education rather than a privileged few? Maybe focus on that and you'll forget that your DD might have to change her plans or live with her mum temporarily. If he gets in, housing costs will be more affordable and accessible so it will benefit her tremendously.

Original poster
Dressingdown1 · 28/09/2019 10:27

Well, I suppose she will just go and teach abroad at one of the many independent schools which have already set up there. No doubt lots more will follow suit if JC gets .into power.

I cannot see mass education being improved as wealthy people who currently pay taxes will simply move abroad too, and take their money with them. Certainly, the ones we know are making plans to leave. So my worries extend to everyone (like us) who cannot afford to do this, and will be stuck with a worse situation than we already have.

OP posts:
RedHelenB · 28/09/2019 10:30

Yabu worrying about that. No job is 100% safe the school could go under at any time. If shes a good teacher she ll find other employment.

messolini9 · 28/09/2019 10:32

Surely DD can use her skills in the state school system in the unlikely event that it comes down to it?

Or will that be too plebian for her/you?

CendrillonSings · 28/09/2019 10:36

You’re right to be worried - use your vote to keep the spiteful Labour loons out of power!

BlueBilledBeatboxingBird · 28/09/2019 10:37

Stop worrying. It won’t happen. However - your DD would be wise to prioritise saving to buy something, even if it’s a small flat which she lets out. It isn’t a great idea to have your accommodation wholly reliant on your job and many independent schools are already in a precarious financial position.

HeddaGarbled · 28/09/2019 10:37

Hilarious. All the things you could be worrying about right now and this is the one thing that is ‘keeping you awake at night’. Goady.

Haggisfish · 28/09/2019 10:38

It’ll never happen. And I say that as someone who would quite like it to happen and currently work in state education.

BrokenBrit · 28/09/2019 10:39

YABU

People have already died from the Tory parties austerity and cuts to welfare.
People are losing their jobs as business’s go bust or relocate out of Brexit Britain.
We are on the midst of a national crisis with a whole heap of more misery to come if BJ and his corrupt cronies get their way, with the worst, by their own admission in yellowhammer, affecting the most vulnerable.

Go and help at a food bank if you want to experience the real need in society and stop worrying about your daughter, who has a good career and prospects, based on something which is unlikely to happen, and certainly not imminently!

MrsMaiselsMuff · 28/09/2019 10:40

You're either completely misunderstanding this or playing dumb. I'm not sure which.

There are boarding schools in the state sector. Your daughter could work at one of them.

The suggestion (and at this stage it is only a suggestion) of ending private schools is one measure in a much wider picture. The overall aim is to get smaller class sizes for all. This would mean that the current private schools could become state funded, the infrastructure will still be used, but it will be run by a different body. There are going to be more teachers needed overall, not less.

There are currently previous private schools that have become state run. One of the IDST schools did it.

What is more likely to happen is that private schools will lose their charitable status if they cannot show a wider benefit to the community. That's fair, at the moment too many are taking the tax benefit without fulfilling their charitable aims.

Tellmetruth4 · 28/09/2019 10:41

That’s the thing that’s keeping you awake at night? Wow, wish I had so little to worry about.

HeddaGarbled · 28/09/2019 10:46

What the phrase ‘first world problem’ was invented for.

LaPeste · 28/09/2019 10:49

Honestly ...

MuseThalia · 28/09/2019 10:49

I am too, they have a bursary to cover part of their fee's and I'm worried if they lose charitable status that will go. I'm worred because she's autistic, but not enough to be in a specialist school .. they are fantastic with her at school and her stress levels have dropped right down since being there. I seriously think she'll be one of those children who refuse to go to school if she was in one of the schools around here. Even if the school she is at becomes state but she's still there... the way they run it is very different from how state do things .. but this will change if it becomes state.

MrsMaiselsMuff · 28/09/2019 10:49

I cannot see mass education being improved as wealthy people who currently pay taxes will simply move abroad too, and take their money with them.

Because they're too tight to pay (at most) a few more pence in the pound in tax?

My wealthiest friends are Labour supporters, they have no objection to paying a little more (that doesn't make a jot of difference to their disposable income) to improve education and the NHS. They've actually moved back from living in a higher tax Scandi country, so have first hand experience of the benefits of fair public sector spending.

My many teacher friends, in both the state and private sectors, all agree that state education needs far more funding. None have expressed a need to move abroad or concern about their futures under a properly funded state education system!

ChilledBee · 28/09/2019 10:53

@MuseThalia

What is more likely to happen is that the concept of someone not being "autistic enough" to qualify for a specialist ASD school would be eradicated.

MrsMaiselsMuff · 28/09/2019 10:56

@MuseThalia The aim of the Labour plans is to make the education system more fair, more accessible for all. One way that private schools could do this is to offer more bursaries, not less.

If your daughter is currently at school then any changes will not affect her. It's going to take a generation for any fundamental changes to come into effect.

What we need is masses more funding for those with SEN. The present government has completely failed the children that need help most. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the next generation are able to receive a high quality education whatever their personal and home circumstances?

MuseThalia · 28/09/2019 10:57

ChilledBee, I have a child who is in an autistic specialist school. She's nothing like him, he won't get an education because he isn't able to, same as the other children in that school. DD is very able academically.

BlueCornsihPixie · 28/09/2019 10:57

I don't understand

If she's a teacher at an independent school she's obviously well qualified with a good salary? If she's been living at the school she must have good savings

Even if all the private schools shut down overnight she would either get a job as a teacher in the state sector, or use her qualifications to get another job?

Then she can use her savings/salary to rent? Like everyone else? She's hardly going to end up homeless

Like you said worst case scenario she can come live in your spare room. There literally nothing to be worried about in this scenario. Do you normally have anxiety issues?

inboxmayhem · 28/09/2019 10:58

@ChilledBee that is the exact opposite of what will happen. The state sector will no way be able to absorb the children currently at independents.

What will happen is homeschooling on mass, creating EVEN more of a divide.

Don't worry OP. The man is a communist and WE all know that it just won't work.

My DC are privately educated so it worries me too

AmateurSwami · 28/09/2019 10:59

I'd be more interested in how it might improve education and equality for the masses rather than the fact one person might have to change their lifestyle.

Basically

MrsMaiselsMuff · 28/09/2019 11:00

It's heartbreaking that children with SEN are so let down by the current state system that they have no option but to go private. That's what we should be focusing on, assuring a high quality education for everyone.

Witchinaditch · 28/09/2019 11:01

Labour are unelectable so I wouldn’t worry about something that isn’t going to happen.

ChilledBee · 28/09/2019 11:01

My friends who work in private schools are becoming increasingly unhappy in these times. As are my HCP friends who work in private hospitals. My nurse friend said they see her as a hotel chambermaid and dismiss her professional opinions and treat the doctors as if the money they pay supersedes the capabilities of medicine.
People who feel their NHS diagnosis/treatment plan is inadequate and feel betrayed when their private doctor comes to the same conclusions about prognosis/management. As for schools,my friends tell me that parents seem to have forgotten that their fees don't pay for good grades. The student has to actually achieve those. One parent wrote a long email saying that she feels she should receive some money back as her friend's child in a state school got the same grades as her daughter!